When we had again passed the line to the northward, and were come to the third degree or somewhat more, we saw crabs swimming that were as red as if they had been boiled; but this was no sign of land. About the eleventh degree, and for many days, more than ten thousand fishes continually followed, or were round about our ship, of which we caught so many that we eat nothing else for fifteen days, and they served our turn well; for at this time we had no meat remaining, and hardly any thing else to eat, our voyage drawing nigh to seven months, which commonly is performed in five, when they take the inner passage. These fishes were no sign of land, but rather of deep sea. At length two birds were caught of the hawk tribe, which gave our people great joy, thinking they had been birds of India, but we found afterwards that they were from Arabia; and when we thought we had been near India, we were in the latitude of Socotoro, an island near the mouth of the Red Sea. Here God sent us a strong wind from the N.E. or N.N.E. on which they bore away unwillingly toward the east, and we ran thus for ten days without any sign of land, by which they perceived their error. Hitherto they had directed their course always N.E. desiring to increase their latitude; but partly from the difference of the needle, and most of all because the currents at that time carried us N.W. we had been drawn into this other danger, had not God sent us this wind, which at length became more favourable and restored us to our right course.
These currents are very dangerous, as they deceive most pilots, and some are so little curious, contenting themselves with ordinary experience, that they do not take the trouble of seeking for new expedients when they swerve, neither by means of the compass nor by any other trial. The first sign of approaching land was by seeing certain birds, which they knew to be of India; the second was some sedges and boughs of palm-trees; the third was snakes swimming at the surface of the water, and a certain substance which they called money, as round and broad as a groat-piece, and wonderfully printed or stamped by nature, as if it had been coined money. These two last signs are so certain, that they always see land next day, if the wind serve; which we did next day, when all our water, for you know they have no beer in these parts, and victuals began to fail us.
We came to Goa the 24th day of October, and were there received in a most charitable manner. The natives are tawny, but not disfigured in their lips and noses, like the Moors and Kafrs of Ethiopia. The lower ranks go for the most part naked, having only a clout or apron before them of a span long and as much in breadth, with a lace two fingers breadth, girded about with a string, and nothing more; and thus they think themselves as well dressed as we, with all our finery. I cannot now speak of their trees and fruits, or should write another letter as long as this; neither have I yet seen any tree resembling any of those I have seen in Europe, except the vine, which here grows to little purpose, as all their wines are brought from Portugal. The drink used in this country is water, or wine made from the coco palm-tree. Thus much must suffice for the present; but if God send me health, I shall have opportunity to write you once again; but the length of this letter compelleth me now to take my leave, with my best prayers for your most prosperous health. From Goa, the 10th November 1579.-Your loving Son,
THOMAS STEVENS.
INTRODUCTION
We learn from the following journal, that the present expedition was undertaken at the instigation, and chiefly at the expence of Sir Edward Osborne, Knight, and Mr Richard Staper, citizens and merchants of London. Besides Fitch, the author of the narrative, Mr John Newbery, merchant, William Leedes jeweller, and James Story painter, were engaged in the expedition. The chief conduct of this commercial enterprize appears to have been confided to John Newbery; and its object appears to have been, to extend the trade, which the English merchants seem to have only recently established through Syria, by Aleppo, Bagdat and Basora, to Ormus and perhaps to Goa, in imitation of the Italians, so as to procure the commodities of India as nearly as possible at first hand. In the prospect of being able to penetrate into India, and even into China, Newbery was furnished with letters of credence or recommendation, from Queen Elizabeth to Zelabdim Echebar, stiled king of Cambaia, who certainly appears to have been Akbar Shah, emperor of the Mogul conquerors of Hindostan, who reigned from 1556 to 1605; and to the emperor of China. The promoters of this enterprise, seem to have been actuated by a more than ordinary spirit of research for those times, by employing a painter to accompany their commercial agents. It is farther presumable that the promoters of the expedition, and their agents, Newbery and Fitch, were members of the Turkey company; and though the speculation turned out unsuccessful, owing to causes sufficiently explained in the narrative and its accompanying documents, it is obviously a prelude to the establishment of the English East India Company; which, from small beginnings, has risen to a colossal height of commercial and sovereign grandeur, altogether unexampled in all history.
Hakluyt gives the following descriptive title of this uncommonly curious and interesting narrative: "The voyage of Mr Ralph Fitch, merchant of London, by the way of Tripolis in Syria to Ormus, and so to Goa in the East India, to Cambaia, and all the kingdom, of Zelabdim Echebar the great Mogor, to the mighty river Ganges, and down to Bengala, to Bacola and Chonderi, to Pegu, to Imahay in the kingdom of Siam, and back to Pegu, and from thence to Malacca, Zeilan, Cochin, and all the coast of the East India; begun in the year of our Lord 1583, and ended in 1591: wherein the strange rites, manners, and customs of those people, and the exceeding rich trade and commodities of those countries, are faithfully set down and diligently described, by the foresaid Mr Ralph Fitch."
Hakluyt has prefaced this journal, by several letters respecting the journey, from Mr Newbery, and one from Mr Fitch, and gives by way of appendix an extract from Linschoten, detailing the imprisonment of the adventurers at Ormus and Goa, and their escape, which happened while he was at Goa, where he seems to have materially contributed to their enlargement from prison. These documents will be found in the sequel to the narrative of Mr Fitch.
It must not however be concealed, that the present journal has a very questionable appearance in regard to its entire authenticity, as it has obviously borrowed liberally from that of Cesar Frederick, already inserted in this work, Vol. VII. p. 142-244. It seems therefore highly probable, that the journal or narrative of Fitch may have fallen into the hand of some ingenious book-maker, who wished to increase its interest by this unjustifiable art. Under these circumstances, we would have been led to reject this article from our collection, were not its general authenticity corroborated by these other documents, and by the journal of John Eldred, who accompanied Newbery and Fitch to Basora. A part of the striking coincidence between the journals of Cesar Frederick and Ralph Fitch might have arisen from their having visited the same places, and nearly by the same route, only at the distance of 20 years; Frederick having commenced his journey in 1563, and Newbery and Fitch theirs in 1588. Some of the resemblances however could only have been occasioned by plagiarism.
It is very difficult to conceive how Fitch, after his imprisonment at Goa, and escape from thence under surety to the Portuguese viceroy, should have ventured in the sequel to visit the Portuguese settlements in Ceylon, Cochin, Calicut, Goa even, Chaul, and Ormuz, on his way home again by Basora, Bagdat, Mosul, &c. to Aleppo and Tripoli. These parts of his journal, and his excursions to the north of Pegu, certainly have a suspicious appearance. It is possible that he may have described these several routes, historically, in his own journal; and that some book-maker, into whose hands his papers may have fallen, chose to give these a more interesting appearance, by making Fitch the actor in what he only described on the authority of others. It is strange that these circumstances should not have occurred to Hakluyt, as the narrative of Fitch is inserted in his collection immediately following that of Cesar Frederick. Yet with these obvious faults, the relation of Fitch is interesting, as the first direct attempt of the English to open a trade with India; and so far at least, its authenticity is unquestionable, being corroborated by other documents that are not liable to the smallest suspicion. –E.